Anti-spillage beverage cozy

ABSTRACT

A cozy for holding beverage containers of different sizes, comprises a base member having an exterior and an interior. The interior forms a cavity with an open top and a bottom end wider than the top to receive and hold a receptacle member herein and provide resistance to tipping. The interior may further include a weighting mechanism proximate the bottom of the base member which may provide a lower center of gravity to offset the center of gravity created by liquid held in a beverage container. The exterior may also include a flat bottom to mitigate tipping of a beverage container held by the cozy.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to the field of householdutensils and, more specifically, to freestanding beverage containerholders that stabilize beverage containers of different sizes in ananti-spilling fashion. A beverage may be usually consumed from abeverage container such as a pint glass, soda can, and a water bottle,etc. Naturally, beverage containers may be prone to tipping over andspilling due to the fact that the center of gravity of the container maybe relatively high because the dimension of the height of the containermay be designed to be greater than the dimension of the base of thecontainer. Such predisposition may be further aggravated given therigidness of the body of the containers affords no absorption orreduction of force of impact on the body of the containers. Further,beverages may oftentimes be consumed both indoors and outdoors. Forexample, when placed on the grass at a picnic or on the sand at a beach,beverage containers may be more subject to tipping over and spilling dueto the uneven nature of the surfaces of the grass and the sand.Additionally, when placed indoors, for example, on a coffee table or astudy desk, beverage containers may also be subject to accidents thatcause the containers to tip over and spill thus preventing damage towhat is spilled upon.

A number of beverage container holders exist in the prior art. In U.S.Pat. No. 4,964,600, an insulated cup holder is illustrated to have abag-like flexible base secured to a rigid interior frame to form aholder that may be placed on uneven surfaces without spilling. In U.S.Pat. Pub. No. US 2007/0181766A1, a beverage container holder is shown tohave a supporting member to support the container laterally and axially,and a stabilizing member to stabilize the holder, which has an outerdimension greater than at a lower end than at an upper end of thestabilizing member. In U.S. Pat. Pub. No. US 2007/0205205A1, a lowcenter gravity holder includes a beverage container receptacle having abottom with a high friction surface to resist skidding on a smoothsurface and with a fabric hooking material to resist skidding on fabric.The holder also includes a stabilizing annular collar that is weightedby a gel material or weighted granular elements. Further, U.S. Pat. No.5,071,096 discloses a beverage container stabilizing device forreleasably holding various sized drink containers. The holder includesone or more biased members, each of which are secured to the innersurface of a frame, releasably holding various sized drink containerswithin a frame's interior region. The frame has a top end and a bottomend which rests upon the relatively horizontal surface when the drinkcontainer stabilizing device is in a resting position. A retainingmember is used to further secure the one or more biased membersproximate the top end of the frame, and a base plate may be attached tothe bottom end of the frame so as to provide an underlying support for adrink container should the device be raised from its resting position.The base plate may further serve to secure the one or more biasedmembers proximate to the bottom end of the frame. As can be seen, thereis a need for beverage container holders that are freestanding andstabilize beverage containers of different sizes in a position andmanner less prone to tipping over and spilling.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one aspect of the present invention, a cozy for holding a beveragecontainer comprises a base member having an exterior and an interior.The interior forms a cavity with an open top and a bottom end to receiveand hold herein a receptacle member. The interior further includes aweighting mechanism. The base member further includes a flat bottom.

These and other features, aspects and advantages of the presentinvention will become better understood with reference to the followingdrawings, description and claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exploded side view of a cozy according to an embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional side view of the cozy shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a bottom end perspective side view of the cozy shown in FIG.1; and

FIG. 4 is a side view of a cozy according to another embodiment of thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The following detailed description is of the best currently contemplatedmodes of carrying out exemplary embodiments of the invention.

The description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, but is mademerely for the purpose of illustrating the general principles of theinvention, since the scope of the invention is best defined by theappended claims.

Various inventive features are described below that can each be usedindependently of one another or in combination with other features.

However, any single inventive feature may not address any of theproblems discussed above or may only address one of the problemsdiscussed above. Further, one or more of the problems discussed abovemay not be fully addressed by any of the features described below.

Broadly, embodiments of the present invention generally provide afreestanding beverage container holder that stabilizes beveragecontainers of a variety of sizes and prevents the beverage containersfrom tipping over and spilling thus preventing damage to what is spilledupon.

FIG. 1 is a side view of an embodiment of a cozy 10 for holding abeverage container (not shown) in accordance to the present invention.The cozy 10 includes a base member 30 and a receptacle 20. The basemember 30 may be configured to have an exterior 34 and an interior 36.For sake of illustration, the base member 30 is shown both in an openedstate to expose the interior 36 to view and a closed state where theinterior 36 forms a cavity 32 with a top opening 322 and a bottom end324. The interior 36 may also be configured to include a weightingmechanism that is not shown in FIG. 1 but in FIGS. 2 and 4. Thereceptacle 20 may be configured to include a top opening 22 and a bottom24. In an exemplary embodiment, the receptacle 20 may be substantiallycylindrical and have a depth 202, a top circumference 204, and a bottomcircumference 206. The base member 30 may also have a height 302, a topcircumference 304, and a bottom circumference 306. The bottomcircumference 306 may be wider than the top circumference 304. In anexemplary embodiment, the base member 30 can be of any shape that has abroad bottom end towards the bottom end 324 of the cavity 32 and a smalltop end towards the top opening 322 of the cavity 32. In anotherexemplary embodiment, the receptacle 20 may accommodate a beveragecontainer of a variety of sizes and shapes, such as a pint glass, a sodacan, and a water bottle, etc. When the receptacle 20 is adapted to befastened to the inside of the cavity 32, the top opening 322 of thecavity 32 may be coupled to a periphery of a wall of the receptacle 20via glue, snap fasteners and the like.

In one exemplary embodiment, the receptacle 20 may be a tapered cup. Inanother exemplary embodiment, the tapered cup may have a height of, forexample, 3.5 inches, a top circumference of 10 and ¾ inches, and abottom circumference of 9 inches. The cavity 32 may match the shape andthe dimensions of the receptacle 20 so that the top opening 322 of thecavity 32 may be coupled to an uppermost periphery of the top opening 22of the receptacle 20 and the bottom end 324 of the cavity 32 may contacta bottom periphery of the bottom 24 of the receptacle 20 directly.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional side view of the cozy 10 shown in FIG. 1. Insome embodiments, the base member 30 may include a flat bottomed surface38. A weighting mechanism 40 may be disposed inside the interior 36 ofthe base member 30 and adapted to substantially fill the lower end ofthe base member 30 proximate the bottom end 324 of the cavity 32. Theweighting mechanism 40 may also be configured to substantially surroundthe bottom 24 of the receptacle 20, and may extend upwardly to anyheight that is less than the height of the cavity 32. By providing aweighted mass towards the bottom of the base member 30, the weighingmechanism 40 supplies a lower center of gravity and in conjunction withthe tapered interior therefore stabilizes the top heavy beveragecontainer held herein and prevents spills.

In an exemplary embodiment, the weighting mechanism 40 may include anannular bag 44 filled with granular articles 42 such as pebbles, beads,gravels, gel, liquid, or rocks. The annular bag 44 may be configured tohave a center opening area that may have substantially the same size andshape as that of the bottom 24 of the receptacle 20. In anotherexemplary embodiment, the annular bag 44 may be configured to have acenter opening area that is greater than that of the bottom 24 of thereceptacle 20. The bottom 24 of the receptacle 20 comes into directcontact with the bottom end 324 of the interior 36, which may beconfigured directly atop of and against the flat bottom 38 of theexterior 34 of the base member 30. The flat bottom 38 may be adapted tocontact a surface on which the cozy 10 rests. In use, it may beappreciated that wider bottom features of the cozy 10, for example thebottom circumference 306 may resist movement of the top of thereceptacle 20 from tipping beyond a center of gravity.

Referring now to FIG. 3, a flat bottom 38 of the base member 30 may beconfigured to be disposed substantially in the center of the bottom ofthe exterior 34 where the cozy 10 comes into contact with a surface onwhich the cozy 10 is placed. In some embodiments, the flat bottom 38 mayalso include a displaying area for displaying marks, logos, quickresponse codes, images and texts, including a cozy manufacturer's logoor mark. A neck 50 may be at the uppermost periphery of the base member30. The neck 50 may further include an area for displaying marks, logos,quick response codes, images and texts, including a cozy manufacturer'slogo or marks. In an exemplary embodiment, the neck may be of a heightof 2 inches.

FIG. 4 is a side view of a cozy 210 according to another exemplaryembodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, a base member230, a receptacle 220 and a weighting mechanism 240 may be one integralpiece. Such integral piece may, for example, may be made of inexpensivematerials such as plastic, metal or disposable materials. The basemember 230 may further include an exterior 234 and an interior 236. Boththe bottom 238 of the cozy 210 and the bottom 224 of the receptacle 220may be configured to be flat.

Further, the bottom 224 of the receptacle 220 may be adapted to bedisposed directly atop the bottom 238 of the exterior 234 of the cozy210.

In yet another embodiment, the exterior of the base member of the cozymay be made of flexible materials such as thick cloth or leather for thepurpose of absorbing force upon impact and further prevent tipping overand spills.

Additionally, the cozy may serve and function as a coaster so that coldbeverage containers held inside the cozy would not leave undesirablecondensation rings on a surface where they are placed.

It should be understood, of course, that the foregoing relates toexemplary embodiments of the invention and that modifications may bemade without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as setforth in the following claims.

We claim:
 1. A cozy for holding a beverage container, comprising: a basemember having an exterior and an interior, the interior having a cavitywith an open top and a bottom end; a receptacle member inside the cavityof the interior of the base member; a weighting mechanism coupled ontothe interior of the base member, proximate a bottom of the base member;and a flat bottom surface on the exterior of the base member, whereinthe receptacle member is configured to receive and hold the beveragecontainer herein.
 2. The cozy of claim 1, wherein a depth of thereceptacle and a depth of the cavity of the interior is substantiallythe same.
 3. The cozy of claim 2, wherein a bottom of the receptacle andthe bottom end of the cavity of the interior of the base member is ofsubstantially the same size and shape.
 4. The cozy of claim 1, whereinthe bottom end of the cavity of the interior is lined directly atop andagainst the flat bottom of the exterior of the base member.
 5. The cozyof claim 1, wherein the receptacle is a tapered cup.
 6. The cozy ofclaim 1, wherein the weighting mechanism is an annular bag that has acenter opening area configured to surround the bottom of the receptacle,and is filled with granular weights, gel or liquid.
 7. The cozy of claim6, wherein the granular weights are pebbles, beads, gravel, rocks, orcapsulated gel or liquid.
 8. The cozy of claim 6, wherein the weightingmechanism extends upwardly from a bottom of the receptacle to a heightthat is less than a depth of the cavity.
 9. The cozy of claim 1, whereinthe exterior of the base member is made of materials such as thick clothor leather.
 10. The cozy of claim 1, wherein the base member, thereceptacle and the weighting mechanism are integrated into a unitarypiece.
 11. The cozy of claim 11, wherein the integral piece is made ofplastic, metal, or disposable material.
 12. The cozy of claim 1, whereinthe exterior of the base member further comprises a neck at an uppermostperipheral of the top opening of the cavity and an uppermost peripheralof a top opening of the receptacle.
 13. The cozy of claim 12, whereinthe base member, the receptacle and the weighting mechanism are of aunitary piece.
 14. The cozy of claim 1, wherein the flat bottom of thebase member further comprises an area for displaying marks, logos, quickresponse codes, images and texts.
 15. The cozy of claim 12, wherein theneck further comprises an area for displaying marks, logos, quickresponse codes , images and texts.